History of VVS - VVS SK Modi

A BRIEF HISTORY OF VEERASAIVA VIDYAVARDHAKA SANGHA, BELLARY.

Sangha as the Banyan Tree :

The idea of establishing Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha in Bellary, was proposed in 5^th All India Veerasaiva Mahasabha which was held in Bellary in the year 1909 from 27^th to 30^thDecember. Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha started with the blessings and guidance of His Holiness Hanagal Kumarswamygal and His Holiness Jagadguru Siddhalinga Shivacharya Swamiji of Ujjaini. It has been formally registered as ‘Madras Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha’ on March 7^th 1918 under the Presidentship of Sri.Kowthalda Gurushanthappa and Vice-Presidentship of Sri.Togari Veeramallappa. It was later changed to ‘Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha’, Bellary ; when the District was merged with Mysore State in 1933. The activities of Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha began with providing free hostel for Boys of Veerasaiva Community at “Sakkari Karadappa Chowki” and later at Gandhinagar with the help of Sri. Togari Veeramallappa.

Right from the inception, the Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha has concentrated its efforts in the most needed and vital areas. It is proud on the part of us to name some:

Service to Kannada.
Women Education.
Primary Education.
High School and Higher Education.
Rural Education.
Technical Education.

The Sangha stood for Secular Values, Non-Commercial Attitude and Selfless Motives in providing Education for all, without discrimination of caste or creed. It has dedicated itself to above said areas and fulfilled the dreams and aspirations of the people of Bellary District. We wish to quote few examples where Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha has done yeoman service in each of these fields.

Service to Kannada :

The Sangha strived to develop Kannada language in this part of Karnataka. In 1920’ s, though Kannada Speaking Community were in a majority, there were only Telugu Medium Schools and not even one Kannada Medium School in the entire District. Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha, started “Heeradasugamma Kannada Primary School” on 8^th of April in 1924 in Bellary. This was the greatest contribution of the Sangha to the State. This helped in ultimate inclusion of Bellary in Karnataka and also shows Sangha’s commitment towards Primary Education from its inception.

First College in the Area :

Another long felt need of this area was Higher Education. There was no College at all in the entire District. Only affluent could go to other places for Higher education, but, what about the poor ? In 1942, on the occasion of its ‘Silver Jubilee Celebrations’, it committed itself to contribute in the area of Higher Education and fulfill the needs of the people Bellary District. For that it needed a whopping Three Lakh Rupees, and a spacious building. Sangha was able to achieve this objective with the help of Liberal Donations from the Community and selfless work by a lot of committed Well-Wishers, both Members and Non-Members. The result is the birth of “Veerasaiva College” in 1945. It had to face innumerable hurdles to make the dream come true. By 1956 – a massive 101 acres of alienated land was obtained from then Madras Government and a College was established for fulfilling the educational needs of generations of Bellary citizens.

This was possible with enormous efforts of Late Y. Mahabaleswarappa, who was instrumental in getting this grant of 101 acres from the then Madras Government, and the then Vice-Chancellor of Madras University Sri. Laxmana Swamy Mudaliar and also innumerable munificent donors. Soon, Bellary got another High School, with the generous donation of entire property by Setra Mariyamma – it was the first Kannada Medium School established under private management named “Setra Gurushanthappa High School”.

From this stage onwards, the Sangha was firmly on its saddle and could do much more in other areas which it has committed long back i.e., Women Education, Rural Education and Technical Education.

Women Education :

With a motive to educate women, it has opened “Allum Sumangalamma College for Women” in Bellary in the year 1969 for which Late Allum Karibasappa donated One Lakh Rupees. The Sangha has also constructed a Womens Hostel, which helped scores of parents to send their daughters for higher education without any worry. It is the greatest service by Sangha for the progress of Women. The Sangha has also opened a High School exclusively for girls by name “Kittur Rani Chennamma High School”.

The Stage of Expansion :

Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha has never shown any kind of Commercial Motives, neither in running its Schools nor expanding its Territory. The Territorial expansion was always in the most unprofitable areas i.e., the most rural areas of Bellary district. The shining examples of this attitude are “Vijayanagar College, Hospet” ; “Kottureswara College, Kottur” ; “Gangavathi Bhagyamma Rural College, Huvinahadagali” ; “Ambli Dodda Baramappa College, Harapanahalli”. All these colleges contributed a lot in giving quality education at Pre-University and Degree level to the poorest of the poor in Rural Areas.

The Sangha has also opened high schools at Kudithini, Tambrahalli, Munirabad and developed all of them into Junior Colleges. These Colleges have emerged because of large liberal donations by Veerasaiva Community People and other Donors of those areas.

Few colleges have celebrated Golden Jubilee like “Veerasaiva College” in 1996, “Vijayanagar Composite Junior College, Munirabad” ; “Haraginadoni Basavanagouda High School, Kudithini” ; “Kotturswamy College of Education, Bellary” ; and “Vijayanagar College, Hospet” in 2014. Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha further extended its services in the Rural Areas of the District by providing Higher and Technical Education for almost half a century now.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION :

Apart from these achievements, Sangha also took care of Technical Education to help the youth to face International Competition. Some of these Institutions are “Kotturswamy College of Education, Bellary” ; “Vunki Sanna Rudrappa Law College, Bellary” ; “Togari Veeramallappa Pharmacy College, Bellary” ; named after Late Togari Mallappa in grateful recognition of his donation of land on which present Women’s College is located. The other big step in Technical Education is opening of “Vijayanagar Engineering College, Bellary” in 1980. It has been renamed now as “Rao Bahadur Yechareddy Mahabaleshwarappa Engineering College”, in short “RYMEC” at Bellary in recognition of that great soul who was instrumental in planting this great Banyan tree called Veerasaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha Educational Institutions as far back as in 1948 by getting 101 acres of land for “Veerasaiva College”, recognition from Madras University for the “Veersahaiva College” and the magnificent College Building by collecting more than Three Lakh Rupees at that time. It is our great honour to name this Technical College on his name. It is one of the leading Engineering Institutions in the state, having M.Tech courses in various branches.

The Sangha has opened another Engineering College in Hospet by name “Prouda Devaraya Institute of Technology”. It caters to the needs of the Students of the interior Talukas of Bellary District. V.V.Sangha has given General, Technical and Professional Education to the interior parts of Bellary District keeping in mind poor Rural Students. It shows the service oriented vision of the V.V.Sangha. It never thought of running the institutes for money but for the Service to Society and providing Education for all without any discrimination of caste or creed.

Apart from Engineering, Education and Pharmacy Colleges, it has entered into the field of Management Studies. It has opened M.B.A College in Bellary by the name “Vijayanagar Institute of Management”. Later, it has been renamed as “Allum Karibasapppa Institute of Management”, in short “AKIMS”, in recognition of his services for V.V.Sangha. AKIMS has a well equipped, sprawling building with state of art facilities for Management Studies.

Post Graduate courses – Further Expansion :

Taking the note of need of Post Graduate Studies, Sangha responded to the need of the Society. It has opened MBA Course in RYMEC affiliated to Vishveshvaraiah Technological University, Belgaum. Almost all of its institutes of higher education have stepped into the arena of Post Graduate Education. RYMEC has opened a separate wing of Master of Computer Applications (MCA) with excellent faculty and lab facilities. Later it has successfully launched Post-graduate wing with various M.Tech courses in branches like Production Management, Thermal Power Engineering, Computer Science, E&CE and Civil Engineering. It is emerging as a research centre par excellence.

“Kotturswamy College of Education” is offering M.Ed Course in this wing. It is one of the best colleges in the State in the field of Education.

In general, for Higher Education, “Veerasaiva College, Bellary” has started various PG courses like M.Sc in Computers, M.Sc in General Chemistry, M.A in English and M.Com courses.

“Vijayanagar College” also stepped in the Post Graduate wing by introducing courses like M.Sc in Physics, M.Sc in Computer Science, M.Sc in Chemistry, M.A in English, M.A in Economics and M.Com courses. “Kottureswara College, Kottur”, though it is a rural college is not lagging behind in its expansion. It has opened M.Com course and is planning for M.Sc in Mathematics and M.Sc in Chemistry. “Smt. Allum Sumangalamma College for Women, Bellary” has opened M.Com and M.Sc Computer Science under Womens’ University, Bijapur.

Within no time, all the Degree Colleges have developed into Institutes of Post Graduate courses and within near future V.V.Sangha will have Institutes of Higher Learning which offer research courses like Ph.Ds. They will be research centers par excellence in near future.

In “Togari Veeramallappa Pharmacy College”, Pharma.D course has been opened. It is a higher research degree in the field of Pharmacy offered in a very few colleges across the State.

V.V.Sangha has stepped into corporate education by opening “V.V.Sangha’s Independent P.U. College” where it caters to the needs of very bright students who aspire for Medical and IIT courses through All India Entrance Exams within affordable fees.

V.V.Sangha is providing qualitative Educational facilities to the community from KG to PG on service motive responding to the needs of the people of the region. It is the great ‘Banyan Tree’ of conglomeration of Educational Institutions.

The Sangha is ever expanding, growing and consolidating in the Service of Society & Mankind for the past 100 years. It is now maintaining 42 Educational Institutes and Hostels. It is not a small achievement. It has travelled from one Kannada School in Service of State to this enormous conglomeration of 42 Institutes in service of the Nation. It is the service of one century. It is on the verge of celebrating its joyful and memorable Centenary Celebrations.

It is now presently running under the able Presidentship of
Sri. Uded Basavaraj and Sri. Veerabhadra Sharma as Vice–President &
Sri. T.Kotrappa as Secretary, Sri. K.Veeresh Gowda as Joint Secretary & Sri. K.Mallikarjuna Gowda as Treasurer.

The Sangha has taken utmost care to provide all necessary infrastructures to each and every Institute. With this rich historical and academic background, the Sangha is looking forward to adapt itself to the needs of changing society by adding new, useful courses time to time in the service of community.